The UK-based fintech startup Sharegain, whose securities lending platform allows any investor to generate revenue through loaning out their financial assets, has raised a total of $12 million (including $5 million in the latest round) to support the roll-out of its platform to private banks, online brokers and robo-advisers, as well as scaling up its operations with family offices and asset management firms in line with significant early demand.

For over 40 years, some of the world’s largest investors have made additional gains through securities lending – loaning out their stocks, bonds and ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) in return for a payment known as ‘lending revenue’. Securities lending is a $2.5 trillion market, but this represents a tiny proportion of the industry’s potential; there are about $40 trillion in assets currently sitting idle, globally.

Until now, the sector has been confined to a small number of large institutional investors. As the first fintech to receive FCA approval to offer its SLaaS platform to retail investors, Sharegain aims to create a more transparent and effective market that’s open to any investor with all the benefits that will bring, from greater liquidity, to better data, to eventually building long-term trust in capital markets.

The Sharegain CEO Boaz Yaari and his team founded the company in 2015. For financial institutions seeking additional revenue in a low-yield and volatile environment, Sharegain will simplify the securities lending process at scale – with a regulation-proof platform that is effortless to implement. For private investors and wealth managers, Sharegain opens up the opportunity of securities lending for the first time with a transparent, controlled, and simple solution.

An undisclosed group of lenders are already using the Sharegain platform, and the business is also collaborating with global financial institutions to drive best practice and a more transparent approach to securities lending.

Boaz Yaari, CEO and Co-Founder of Sharegain, explained: “This is a 40-year, $2.5 trillion industry whose full potential has never been fulfilled. A performant securities lending market will not only benefit all investors in an increasingly volatile and low-yield environment, but it will be good for the market overall. It brings greater liquidity and efficiency, ensuring the settlement of certain trades, promoting price discovery and facilitating market making. The old way of securities lending was complex, opaque and outdated, in a ‘need to know’ system that few understood and even fewer controlled. Now, for the first time, it is effortless, effective and open to any investor. We’re excited to be on-boarding investors globally and helping their wealth work harder for them.”

Mike Lobanov, General Partner at Target Global, added: “With a first class team, strong market fit and significant early demand from institutions and private investors, Sharegain already displays a mix of market-shaping potential and ability to execute rarely seen among startups in capital markets. We’re excited to be working with the Sharegain team as it scales-up operations and unlocks the huge potential of the securities lending category.”